Star Wars Episode 9 Theory: Is Obi-Wan's Lightsaber With Kylo Ren?

As general interest and hype surrounding the future of Star Wars is kicking back into gear after Solo put us all to sleep across the Summer, there's one uber-cool plot thread the majority of fans might be overlooking:

Just where the hell, is Obi-Wan's lightsaber?

Though not massively important to the state of the galaxy and its warring First Order/Resistance kerfuffle, sufficed to say Episode IX is going to be pulling out all the stops to make as many Star Wars fans happy as possible. And that means fan service.

At time of writing we know Billy Dee Williams is returning as Lando Calrissian, J.J. Abrams is back in the writer and director's chair to put his own spin on Episode VII's once-dangling plot threads, Mark Hamill is reprising Luke Skywalker and Keri Russell joining the cast might even point to a late-game "Rey's real mum" reveal.

All that, and we've not talked about one of the most low-key important parts of Star Wars fandom: Weaponry.

The collective consciousness lost its damn mind when Kylo Ren's crossguard debuted, and everyone from Count Dooku to Darth Maul himself has had a custom saber to represent their character. In Rey's case she's been writing her name across the stars using Anakin's tasty little blue number from Episode II, but depending on where the story's going, if Lucasfilm want to score points with the fandom, it's about time Obi-Wan's lightsaber made a return.

Last seen on the Death Star in Episode IV as Obi-Wan was transmutated into a being of pure fan service, the laser sword falls to the ground and rests atop his robes, as the blast doors close shut and our heroes flee the ship.

Now, though the movies never had need to revisit the weapon, Star Wars' original expanded universe (now referred to as Legends) saw a troupe of Jedis trained by Luke Skywalker, head to a place call Bast Castle, where they retrieved Obi-Wan's lightsaber, for another handful of stories.

Disney deleted this story from the ongoing main canon in 2012 after they acquired Lucasfilm, meaning that in the movie chronology, the lightsaber likely remained in Darth Vader's possession, amongst the rest of this things.

And who's already acquired a notable piece of Vader's inventory (the signature helmet)? Kylo Ren.

We know Ben Solo has a penchant for lightsabers as it's the first thing he points out when fighting Finn, and well, he's literally named after Obi-Wan himself. It makes perfect sense for Ben Kenobi's lightsaber would be in his possession, not just to add another layer to the character's light/dark split personality, but for fan service.

Furthermore, depending on how Episode IX goes, Kylo's flirtations with redemption and the light side could be his ultimate resolution. If the finality of a child that was led astray through anger and put-upon destiny is to finally wield the weapon of his grandfather's best friend instead, it could be one hell of a way to go...

Let us know down in the comments what you think.